Kevin Love has done more than that this summer, he also has rested his body, but everything he has done seems to have worked — the Timberwolves power forward said he has dropped more than 20 pounds.

That’s what he himself wrote at Grantland, where Love will blog during the lockout. He has started with a “what I did on my summer vacation” post…

Professionally, the time provided me with an opportunity to rest and methodically work my way up to a healthy state. I worked slowly and built up my stamina and strength through yoga, strength training, and cardiovascular conditioning … I feel better than I ever have. For the first time since my freshman year in high school (2003-04) I weigh under 240 pounds, and my strength has consistently gone up. First, I took my time building back up, and treated the latter part of April and the whole month of May as a recovery period from the 10 straight months of basketball. Not that I am the only one who plays this much throughout the course of a year; I know that many players do this, and some even take their teams deep into the postseason year in and year out. This year, for example, some of the players from the World Championships moved deep into the playoffs and their teams saw immense success. While I pay those individuals much respect, knowing the NBA could head into a long and drawn out offseason gave me peace of mind that I could rest my body and mind to prepare for the next step in my career.

Women everywhere now hate Love, because none of them can get back to their high school weight.

Seriously, the rest matters. And with Love in consideration for the USA Olympic team next summer he may not get a lot of rest then, so wise to take the time now.

If Love’s conditioning is up it’s a good thing, because the Timberwolves will run this year. They have to with Ricky Rubio in the fold, but this is a team that with Michael Beasley and Derrick Williams has some finishers in transition. Love needs to be more than rebounds and outlet passes to make it all work. Love moves pretty well but is not exactly fleet of foot, dropping a few pounds will help.

Kevin Love is playing beach volleyball this summer on a lark. (And will again at the Manhattan Beach Open in two weeks.) It’s not something he had done much of before, but during the lockout why not?

Chase Budinger can actually play — he was as heavily recruited out of high school as a volleyball player as he was a basketball player.

This weekend the Rockets swingman is playing in the Hermosa Beach Open (just down the strand from Manhattan — beach volleyball is a way of life in L.A.’s South Bay) and he’s got a chance to do well. He can only do this because of the lockout — his NBA contract prohibits him from playing another professional sport. But since technically he doesn’t have a contract…

You know, I’ve been trying to talk to guys and actually play beach volleyball professionally. My brother [Duncan Budinger] has been playing professionally, he’s on the tour, and he has been trying to get me out there. I was definitely planning on already playing. With him going out there I see more motivation to get out there as well. I’m happy that I was able to jump on this Corona Light tournament this upcoming weekend…

What’s your best volleyball skill?

Definitely hitting. For my size, I think I’m a good passer as well. … What always helped me was I was always an all-around player. There wasn’t ever a skill I was bad at. I could always pass, I could always set, I could always hit the ball, I could always block. That always made me very difficult to play against.

What I want to see is Budinger draw Love’s team in the Manhattan Beach Open next week. If you’re up for a wager, I’ll take Budinger’s team.

In the summer in parts of Los Angeles, beach volleyball is a way of life. Very good athletes are out diving and leaping in the sand at 16th Place in Manhattan Beach (and a host of other spots from Pacific Palisades down to Newport).

Countless of basketball stars with Southern California ties have worked out playing beach volleyball — all the way back to Wilt Chamberlain (who was very good and played for many years after his NBA career ended, we used to see him up in Pali all the time) and Bill Walton through Sasha Vujacic and Chase Budinger (who was a top flight prep volleyball player).

The Timberwolves big man was in New York testing out his game on a makeshift beach court in Times Square Tuesday as part of the Pro Beach Volleyball Series. It is sponsored by Jose Cuervo and Love plans to play in the Manhattan Beach Open next month (the biggest beach volleyball tournament in the nation).

Laugh if you want, but if you can run and jump in the sand, you sky when you get back on the hardwood. It’s a great workout. And you’d like to think it would be easy on your body — Misty May won an Olympic gold just fine then blew out her Achilles on Dancing With The Stars. Although you might want to ask Robert Edwards about that.